Thank you for your interest in the personal documentary services we offer at Moving Stories Media. Whether you want to capture precious stories as loved ones age or mark a special occasion, share your own stories or honor someone else, we’ll work together to identify the options that make the most sense for you. We can work with multiple materials, including:

fresh interviews we film;

family photos you assemble and we, as necessary, scan and fix up;

old family films;

audiotaped interviews we conduct over the phone;

vital written documents (such as letters or genealogical data); and

music that’s meaningful to you.

In short, we’ll use whatever you think will convey your stories in the most compelling ways possible. And we will deliver the products you request, which could include:

a minimally edited film of fresh interviews;

a professional or even broadcast-quality personal documentary;

a coffee table photo book, with captions or a longer narrative; and,

a DVD or an external hard drive backing up everything we collect and produce.

The possibilities are many, and exciting. Whatever you choose will be an invaluable gift to current and future generations.

So, what would a life-story project cost? Good question. It depends on the exact combination of options you choose for your customized package. We are determined to work closely with you to come up with a budget-friendly project plan—including spreading different parts of the project over several years. Check out the “Costs” and “Sample Projects” pages to get a generalized picture of expense categories and sample project costs.

Video shoots: A full-day (10-hour) video shoot with an assistant: $1,100 (for shooting 4 or more people at once: $1,300); a half-day (5-hour) shoot: $900, with an assistant (anything less than 5 hours is considered a half-day and billed at 75% of a full day; anything more than 5 hours is considered a full day).

Travel: For video shoots that take place outside the Twin Cities area, travel costs are $200 per day, plus gas (at the IRS rate, currently $0.555 per mile), food and lodging.

Post-production work: $75 per hour (including editing all fresh video; doing audio-only interviews over the phone, as needed; scanning and/or fixing family photos; editing family films; pulling all that material together into a “rough cut” for the family to review; and then, based on discussions with the family, editing the “rough cut” into a polished personal documentary).

Equipment/supplies: $15-250, depending on the number of DVDs and/or external hard drives requested to archive materials.

Moving Stories Media assumes we’ll need 6-8 hours of post-production work for each hour of fresh interview we shoot (it could be more than that for a broadcast quality film).

The Basic (or, “We just have to get Mom/Dad/Aunt Mary on film.”)

This would simply be a half-day video shoot and very basic editing, which would land in the $1,500-$2,000 range.

The Short Film(or, “Let’s get our feet wet.”)

This project would be designed to capture loved ones’ stories and incorporate some old photos or film clips—one half- to full-day shoot and production of a 30-minute personal documentary, at a cost in the $3,000-$4,000 range.

The Intermediate (or, “Let’s go deeper.”)

This package would include one to two full days of filming and result in a 25-30-minute professional personal film, with some old photos and a few family film clips, as well as DVDs containing all the material collected—all for $6,000-$10,000. Imagine, for instance, bringing us to capture short video takes from numerous family members at your reunion or other vital family events (weddings, funerals).

The Premium (or, “Let’s really invest.”)

This package would capture stories from multiple people and produce a 90-minute (or more) broadcast-quality personal documentary film—which might require two or more full days of filming, some travel, and incorporating numerous photos and film clips—as well as DVDs including hours of outtakes from the video shoots and hundreds of photos and old film clips, costing a total of $12,000 or more.

This information gives you some insight into the possibilities and prices for work with Moving Stories Media. But to figure out what’s right for you, the best step is for us to meet and talk, which we do at no charge. Together we’ll develop a plan that suits your goals and budget.

We believe everyone’s story is special, and we want to make sure that you can preserve for current and future generations the people and life stories and lessons most vital to you and your family.